Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

In a way, Deputy Danny Healy-Rae has made the case I was going to put forward. What constitutes "extraordinary measures"? What is extraordinary today might be very ordinary tomorrow and what is extraordinary in Crumlin hospital might be very ordinary in Tralee hospital. I acknowledge that the Minister has tried to define it. The legislation contains definitions of words and phrases such as "obstetrician", "viability", "review", "relevant decision", "health" and "medical speciality". What are considered to be extraordinary measures today could be considered very ordinary tomorrow, depending on technological, scientific and clinical developments in the medical care of babies. A friend of mine gave birth at 25 weeks. The doctors did amazing, extraordinary things and the baby is now in good health and running around. One of the nurses pointed out that they did such things every day of the week. For them, it is quite ordinary. The inclusion of the phrase "extraordinary measures" may be problematic, which is why we have tabled an amendment which would provide that viability was the point at which, in the reasonable opinion of the medical practitioner, the foetus was capable of survival outside the uterus. The section, as it stands, is too open to interpretation.